Tag: josh mccown

The Chicago Bears barely escaped Ohio with a victory Sunday afternoon against the Cleveland Browns. The game was a close 38-31 offensive point fest and the Bears overcame two early Jay Cutler interceptions to get the win. Cutler was reinstated as the starting quarterback even though Josh McCown’s performance in Cutler’s absence has reignited the fan base.

“I can only imagine the commentators and the fans back at home after the first and second pick, what they were saying,” Running Back Brandon Marshall said of Cutler’s early performance. “I’m sure they were ready to hang him.”

This week against the Eagles, the Bears hope to take away the one thing that makes them tick like a clock, running back LeSean McCoy, the NFL’s leading rusher with 1,343 yards thus far this season. In order to do that, the Bears are relying on OLB Lance Briggs to return from injury after being away seven weeks.

In the end, the Bears had a feel-good-yet-painful victory to stop their five-game losing streak. Allen and the Vikings were left with another near-miss.

Charles Tillman’s interception return in the second quarter gave the Bears the lead for good on Sunday, and they held on to beat the Vikings 17-13 despite Allen getting 3½ of Minnesota’s seven sacks and a late injury to Brian Urlacher, the soul of Chicago’s defense.

“This was one of the most fun games I’ve played in,” Allen said.

Allen finished the season with 22 sacks, just behind Michael Strahan’s mark of 22½ for the New York Giants in 2001.

The Vikings held the Bears to a season-low 209 total yards and forced three turnovers but still managed to lose, a fitting finish to this forgettable season.

Joe Webb relieved Christian Ponder at quarterback for the Vikings (3-13) for the third time in the last month, but the scrambling Webb wasn’t able to keep the Vikings from matching their worst record in franchise history, set first in 1984. The Vikings claimed the third pick in next year’s draft after going 0-6 in the NFC North, the first time in their 51 years they’ve failed to win a division game.

The Bears (8-8) were left to wonder all winter what could’ve been had quarterback Jay Cutler not broken his thumb and running back Matt Forte not sprained his knee. Josh McCown fared far better over the last two weeks than Cutler’s first fill-in, Caleb Hanie, but the Bears still missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.

“I definitely think he can hold his head up. He came here and helped our football team. He gave us a spark,” said coach Lovie Smith.

Smith said Urlacher sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee, which bent awkwardly in the end zone while he helped break up a pass in the fourth quarter. Urlacher was able to walk off the field without assistance, but he was in enough pain initially that he briefly covered his face with his hand. Smith acknowledged he’s concerned about Urlacher, but also noted his recuperative history.

“He heals a little bit quicker than most people, so he should be OK,” Smith said.

But will be the Bears be all right next season?

“We’re a good football team and we’re going to try and keep as many of our coaches and players together as possible,” Smith said. “We don’t want to tear this team down and start over or anything like that. This is a good football team, and we’re going to win a lot of games with this core remaining the same.”

Despite having Allen in his face all day, the defensive end blowing by left tackle J’Marcus Webb often until the tight ends started to help, McCown finished 15 for 25 for 160 yards and a second-quarter touchdown to Roy Williams with one interception.

“We’ve had some ups and downs, but to finish the year off and start the year off with a win to push us into this year is something special. I think we will come back next year and win more than eight games. I can promise you that,” Williams said.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier didn’t make the same promise, but he expressed the same confidence. Frazier hasn’t expressed any concern about his job status, even raving earlier in the week about how supportive team owners have been.

“We’ll have a meeting after the season … but the meeting will be about how not to be 3-13 in 2012,” Frazier said. “We have to be a lot better.”

Ponder went 4 for 10 for 28 yards before aggravating a hip pointer he sustained a month ago. Webb, who rallied the Vikings to victory last week at Washington and brought them within 1 yard of a win at Detroit on Dec. 11, went 17 for 32 for 200 yards. He netted only 2 yards on four rushes.

The Vikings had their share of gaffes familiar to this at-times-woeful season. Most notable was Ponder’s 13th interception, a poorly thrown pass behind Toby Gerhart that bounced off the running back’s hands and into the arms of Tillman for an untouched 22-yard return. That was the third pick six in the last five games against Ponder, the first-round draft pick who took over as the starter for the seventh game of the season.

“It stinks that the season played out the way it did, but I think it’s a building block to improve upon next year,” Ponder said.

Notes: That was Tillman’s fifth career interception return for a TD, the most in Bears history. Mike Brown and Bennie McRae had four each. … Gerhart had 67 yards on 15 rushes for the Vikings before spraining the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the third quarter. … The Vikings finished with 50 sacks, the third-most in team history. They had 71 in 1989 and 51 in 1992. … Devin Hester has four career return TDs against the Vikings, but he averaged just 2.0 yards on two punt returns and 11.0 yards on two kickoff returns. … The Bears have won five straight in this series, their longest streak against the Vikings since winning six in a row from 1983-86.

Charles Tillman’s interception return in the second quarter gave Chicago the lead for good, and the Bears finished the season by stopping their five-game losing streak with a 17-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday despite 3½ sacks by Jared Allen.

Allen finished the season with 22 sacks, behind Michael Strahan’s mark of 22½ for the New York Giants in 2001. Joe Webb relieved Christian Ponder at quarterback for the Vikings (3-13) for the third time in the last month, but the wild-scrambling Webb wasn’t able to do enough to keep the Vikings from matching the worst record in franchise history, set first in 1984.

The Vikings got the ball back with no timeouts at their own 6-yard line and 1:51 left, but D.J. Moore’s interception at the Chicago 29 sealed the game and kept the Bears (8-8) from a losing record.

Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher played hard to the end, unfortunately for him and the Bears. His left knee bent awkwardly in the end zone while trying to break up a pass with 5:15 left, causing enough pain for him to briefly cover his face with his hand. But he was able to walk off the field without assistance.

And fill-in quarterback Josh McCown was sacked seven times.

Though the circumstances were so much different on this day, the Vikings came full circle with another loss to McCown. He filled in for the Arizona Cardinals in the 2003 season finale and knocked Minnesota out of a playoff spot with a stunning heave into the end zone on the final snap.

McCown certainly wasn’t the quarterback the Bears and their fans wanted to see in Week 17. But that’s the way this frustrating season unraveled after Jay Cutler broke the thumb on his throwing hand with a 7-3 record and the postseason well within reach. Running back Matt Forte sprained his right knee two weeks later, and the Bears stumbled into this meaningless matchup.

Despite having Allen in his face all day, McCown he went 15 for 25 for 160 yards and a second-quarter touchdown pass to Roy Williams. The Bears have won five straight in this series, their longest streak against the Vikings since winning six in a row from 1983-86.

Ponder went 4 for 10 for 28 yards before aggravating a hip injury. Webb, who rallied the Vikings to victory last week at Washington and brought them within 1 yard of the same at Detroit on Dec. 11, went 17 for 32 for 200 yards and two interceptions. He netted only 2 yards on 4 rushes.

Toby Gerhart carried 15 times for 67 yards for the Vikings before leaving with an injury to his left knee.

The Vikings had their share of gaffes familiar to this at-times-woeful season. Most notable was Ponder’s 13th interception, a poorly thrown pass behind Gerhart that bounced off the running back’s hands and into the arms of Tillman for an untouched 22-yard return. That was the third pick six in the last five games against Ponder, the first-round draft pick who took over as the starter for the seventh game of the season.

Jamarca Sanford dropped an interception inside Chicago territory when Earl Bennett played defense by banging into him, and McCown promptly moved the Bears 90 yards in the next seven plays for their first touchdown.

Webb took a 10-yard loss on one of his wild scrambles instead of throwing the ball away on third-and-4 at the 20, moving Ryan Longwell’s field goal attempt back to 48 yards. Julius Peppers blocked, it preserving a 14-10 lead. Longwell made a pair of 26-yarders in the first half, but a high snap and a dropped hold led to another botched field goal in the second half.

The Bears were giving, too. E.J. Henderson forced two fumbles in the first half, setting up the Vikings for 10 points, including a 5-yard touchdown run by Harvin, who has scored 24 times over his three-year career.

Sanford recovered the second fumble and celebrated like the Vikings were trying to clinch the division title, running along the sideline where the baseball diamond used to be and into the end zone to encourage the crowd. Despite a number of glaring deficiencies and a couple of embarrassingly lopsided losses down the stretch, the Vikings didn’t quit at the end of Leslie Frazier’s first full season as head coach, coming awfully close to several more victories.

By losing they ensured themselves the third slot in the first round of the draft.